Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-03-23
[By request.1
ITO WHAT PURPOSE is THIS wASTE?''
SERMON DELrvERFp By Rev. D. III. GIL
BERT, D. D., PASTOR OF GRACE
EVAN. LUTHERAN CHURCH,
WINCHESTER, Va.

at the head of this Tract was inappropriate
and ill-timed, as originally asked by the dis
ciplss of Jesus (Matt. 26:S 81. Nothing that
is done, under the promptings of believing
heart, as an expression of reverence and love
for the Lerd, to confer honor upon His
name, or testify regard for His cause, is to
be harshly criticised, or hastily condemned,
an '',caste."
But the question, Of course, may often be
properly asked in other connections; and in
none with greater propriety Or better reason
may we press it than in connection with
the great, almost immeasurable, emil and
sale and use of Intoxicating liquors.
Can there really be any difference ofopin-
ion among thoughtful, intelligent men, as
to the question of waste arising directly or
indirectly from the traffic in ardent spirits?
Time, means, material, labor expended to
no useful end or result are certainly wasted;
and to what good purpose are these en-
ployed in the liquor trade as at present car
risd on throughout the land? Recent est
mates, carefully made from official reports,
tell us that the capital invested in the bust
ness in our country is 1921 ,876, S4S; that the
value of materials annually used is $46, &c.
DIG; that the numbers of persons employed
in various ways is 563, OIL, and their wages
per dnBum $15, 07S 579. In the very mild
est view that can be taken of it do not
these large figures represent what dis
tinguished writer fifty years ago pronounced
ga mighty system Of useless operations?''-
Then think of the 5000, 000 600 annually
expended by our people for intoxicating
drinks; and the loss of service and wages
in the case of those taken from productive
employments thereby, amounting to many
millions more; and does it not seem as if
the time had come when the mere economic
phase of the Liquor Traffic ought to awaken
ear people to a sense of the greatness Of its
evils and move them to earnest efforts to
put check upon the fearful waste insepa-
rably connected with and flowing from it9
But we all know that there is side to
this question incomparably more sad than
any waste that may be computed ia dollars
and cents. 1T were only a matter of the
squandering of so mach time, or money or
labor, on the part of certain people the case
would not be so bad There is another
view Of it brought to eur minds as We en-
deavor to emphasize the question. To what
purpose or end is this waste? That which
inevitably accompanies and results from the
material acastc of the Liquor Traffic en-
hances the evil Of it thousand fold. 1t is
sometimes difficalt to understand how true,
not merely the waste of time and labor and
means, but the waste of health and hap
piness and character aud life; directly and
INCREASINGLY resulting, under the sanction q
the laws, FROM this business. A great army
of mes and women annually going down
with dishonored name to hopeless death,
under this nurse, in cur own Christian laud.
The gray hairs of thousands of heart broken
parents brought in sorrow to the grave
Innumerable hopes blighted; characters
ruined; vices fostered; crimes instigsted;
homes made desolate; wives and children
plunged into untold miseries; and, i'll a
word, the history of the traffic, a history, for
the most part, written in tears and blood
and shame. Are the fruits of the tree SO
sweet that any of us should be forward in
our efferts to protect and cultivate and
cause it to flourish among us?
The time is past for emphasizing the
evils of Intemperanos at length. 1t is nc
longer necessary Those evils are so fla.
grant that no man can for a moment pre-
tend not to recognize them. The great
question of the hour, is, What is our dut,
an vieao o. them2
There is aR old book, and it would be
we'll if more general attention were given
to its utterances in considering the questions
of the day, which says: "Wos unto hin
that giUeth his ncighbor drink We have
no difficulty in understanding the genera
meaning of the words when we lock at the
connection in which they occur. They re
fer to that giving of drink to ones neigh
Dor, that putting of the bottle to his lips
which will result, CT is likely to result, il
drunkenness, and in various ways, bringing
harm to him who is thus debauehed. "Tbt
woe here" says an old exposition. islands
e., 81 II IL
ever they are, who are guilty of this sin, al
any time and in any place, from the stately
palace to the paltry ale-house."
But whe are to be regarded as includes
in the category of such offenders and expo
sing themselves to this woe? Are the words
applicable only to him who literally with
his own hands puts the bottle to his neigh
boris lips and makes him drunk--degradine
and wroDging him and bringing him and
his family to shame? Suppose do nothing
of that sort, but profess to abhor it, and
yet stand calmly by aud see another man
do it, when by the speaking of word, Oh
the doing of some simple act | might pre-,
ven t tam I guiHtess.
1t weuld be fearful crime, under the
law Of God and man, If were to push my
neighbor over precipice into deep water
and leave him to drown; but suppose l find
him there, thrust down by another hand,
and, whilst might do something for his
rescue, without danger, or, perhaps even
much Inconvenience to myself, / should
pass on coptentmcrely togive him a Thought
or word of pity, as he vainly struggled to
escape watery grave, would nothing OF
responsibility be on me fer his death? How
ever human law might regard my act l
would surely merit and receive the con-
domination of all true men, nor could ex-
pect to stand acquitted before the divine
tribunal
Well all about us, our neighbors are be-
ing constantly cast down, through the agen-
cy of the Liquor Traffic, into dreadful, de-
stroying vortex. Many have been swept
by it, through all the woes of drunkard's
life, down to drunkard's hopeless death.
Many are now vainly striving to breast it's
giddy whirl, and more are in danger of be-
ing drawn within the circle of its baleful
power. And now the State herself comes
to US with her Statute books, and says
"We recognize the truth of the statements
that have come to us concerning the mag
nitude of this evil amongst our people.
We have long been in doubt as to how it
might be most effectually dealt with that
it might be lessened. But here is an en-
actment under the provisions of which it is
permitted, that, as far as your community
is concerned, you shall yourselves say,
whether this work of sorrow, degradation
and death shall 60 on, or whether it shall
stop. Only in the authorized way express
your Judgment and will to the effect that
these fountains Of untold miserles-the sa-
loons-shall be closed by the hand of the
law, and stand by that decision; and it is
possible that you may save some of those
who are perishing before your eyes under
the curse of strong drink-you will take
away the chief and most seductive facilities
for the formation and indulgence of the de-
stroying habit; you will remove that which
has long brought sorrow to many a home,
and is constant menace to the virtue and
usefulness of all classes of our youth.
You and l are of those thus addressed by
the State. What shall we do? We profess
to be humane men, not insensible to the
woes Of our race. We profess to be good
citizens, having the best interests of the
community at heart. Nay, we profess, per-